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Battle resurrections may get increased cooldowns
This was actually an offhand remark of Ghostcrawler's a few days ago, but it didn't seem to get much attention. In a thread devoted to the possibility of extending buffs like Blessing of Kings to additional classes in Cataclysm, Ghostcrawler mentioned the following: Ghostcrawler Obviously things like Rebirth can't just be handed to out to more classes unless we did something like a second exhaustion mechanic for battle rez or whatever. For now we're going to try the cooldown at 30 min again. In Icecrown's world of limited attempts, a 30 min cooldown likely meant you just cooled your heels until the cooldown was available again. In Cataclysm the hope is sometimes you'll have the benefit available but not every time, which scales back on how much of a game-changer it is. An alternative to a longer cooldown for Rebirth is something where one druid using it would trip everyone's cooldown for a few minutes. That it's a bit gamey, but might solve the problem. Also keep in mind that Rebirth is much more useful in today's game where people tend to die from massive damage. In a world where people sometimes die because the healers have run out of mana, then Rebirth doesn't buy you quite as much. source
More Cataclysm change details for druids
Fear not, my fellow druids; your feral analysis post is going live later tonight, and resto sometime tomorrow. Daniel Whitcomb and I have been talking about the incoming changes to the spec, and particularly the decision to change the tree of life from a constant form into a cooldown. I honestly didn't know how to feel about it at first. But before we get to that, Ghostcrawler stayed up hellaciously late last night to answer questions from druid players about the Cataclysm changes currently planned, and we've collected all of them here for you.
Star Trek Online Advisory Board gets its own FAQ
When Star Trek Online announced the formation of their Advisory Council for fan input, the response was fairly unhappy, in the same way that the sun's surface is fairly warm. No one, especially the vocal forumgoers, liked the idea of certain fans getting extra input in the game's direction. Cryptic is aware of the negative reaction, and they're doing their best to ameliorate concerns by clarifying the intended purpose of the board. A list of frequently asked questions has just recently gone live on the official site, no doubt hoping to clear the air and mollify those who felt silenced. As the FAQ takes pains to reinforce, the intent was not to replace other forms of player feedback, but to use a different angle to get in touch with fans not active on the forums. The council itself will have methods for removing members seen as advancing a personal agenda over the wishes of others, and there will be methods to add new members based on a variety of factors. Star Trek Online's team does seem to have their heart in the right place, but unpopular decisions can be hard to bounce back from. It remains to be seen how the coommunity will react to Cryptic's explanatory olive branch.
New Aion forums coming April 5
If you're a member of the official Aion forums, you've probably already heard the news that they're moving the forums to a new and improved vBulletin format. This means the addition of quite a few features, from the fun ones like custom titles and signatures to the more functional things such as a private messaging system and user control panel, but there's another important thing to remember during the transfer. "Remember to save all your important threads! This way you can help us by transferring over anything in the current forums that has helped you so that when the new forums arrive, those threads and posts can help future members," is the message from the Aion community team. So while you prepare to enjoy the new features, keep in mind that April 5th is the big day and back up your important posts before then to help jump-start the new forums.
Silence!
Something we may not always think about what our spells and abilities actually do in the setting of the game. Sure, for us, the tooltip tells us the basic information and we go on from there, but what are we actually doing? How does Arcane Shot work? Does the hunter just have a special magic arrow they shoot me with? Do they somehow wave the arrow around and it becomes magic, say a few words in Darnassian or Troll or whatever? Some abilities are pretty obviously spells, like almost everything a mage does, but for other classes the border between magic and skill can get pretty blurry... moves like Cloak of Shadows really beggar the imagination to explain in a non magical way. A recent discussion on the forums about Thunder Clap and its being suppressed by silence effects (it always has, or at least has for so long that I've just accepted it) brings out Ghostcrawler to explain the reasoning. Quite frankly, it's a pretty reasonable explanation: if you're silenced, no one can hear the Thunder Clap going off, and thus, it doesn't do anything.
Cataclysm tanking cooldown feedback wanted
Nethaera hit the forums this morning, asking for feedback from tanks around the globe. Ghostcrawler has been having a lively discussion with tanks (most specifically protection warriors) recently, and now they seem to be formalizing the discussion for the wider audience. Nethaera We're currently working on the tanking cooldowns for tanks in Cataclysm. We're interested in feedback from the community on what makes cooldowns fun and useful. For example, what is the sweet spot in cooldown duration between an ability with such a short cooldown that you must mash it constantly versus an ability with such a long cooldown? Which current abilities are fun? Putting aside any rose-colored glasses, were there cooldowns in Burning Crusade or classic WoW that you miss in Lich King? What, in your minds, should the role be for talents and glyphs. For example, if glyphs shouldn't reduce cooldowns, what can they do? source Nethaera goes on to remind people that this thread isn't the place for balance discussions necessarily, and certainly not a place to debate who's overpowered. This feedback also won't dictate exactly what the developers will do, it will simply help them make the right decisions. Do you have an opinion? Then head on over to the forums and make it known! Politely, of course.
Free character moves for EU servers
If you play on EU servers, not only are you probably far more handsome and personable than I am (to be fair, so is just about every other human being in existence) but you now have more options as to what servers you can play on. Wryxian posted a list of realms and free character moves available. There will be Alliance and Horde only transfers off of various realms not only to these realms, but to others as well. (It should be noted that Vek'nilash appears to have been open since February, and Boulderfist since March 10th.) The full text of the post will be included after the jump.
Blizzard opens up official TCG forums
With all the news regarding the WoW Trading Card Game, avid players have been wondering exactly what's going on, where the license is going, and who's going to be producing new cards, if any. While there aren't any answers to these questions specifically, it's heartening to note that Blizzard just added a new Trading Card Game section to the official forums, solely for discussion about the TCG. The card game hasn't been forgotten, and neither have its players. The question of what the future of the TCG will bring has already been addressed on the forums by Eyonix, who restated Blizzard's earlier announcement that Blizzard and UDE would be parting ways. He also reassured players that Blizzard is committed to supporting the TCG and will be releasing new content in the near future, although there are still no new details as to who is picking up the license. While this also doesn't really answer any questions, it's good to know that Blizzard is still thinking about the TCG community -- and this gives an ideal place for Blizzard to post any updates regarding the game's production. Hopefully we'll see more news on the future of the TCG soon.
Will WoW ever have a 'DPS to heal' model?
We were just talking about it on today's podcast (thrill to the sound of three people barely awake trying to coherently discuss World of Warcraft) and hey, look, Ghostcrawler reads my mind from across the interwebs. Well, okay, no, he responded to a forum thread, but it's still interesting. Yes, interesting enough that I'm going to replicate the post here before discussing it. I am out of control, a renegade, I should hand in my posting badge and keyboard. Ghostcrawler - Re: What's wrong with an Active Mana Regen Model? I'm not sure we'd ever do a "deal damage to heal" model. It might work for new classes, but feels like a big change to existing classes that players know and love. Having choices to get mana back is good. Standing around to regen mana is bad. However, we still ultimately need a way that healers who are playing badly, trying to keep alive an undergeared / underskilled tank, or just tackling content that they're not yet ready for, can run out of mana to the extent that the encounter is over. source Personally, I hope that 'it might work for new classes' statement means we'll finally get something like a Warhammer Warrior Priest. I'm still jazzed from seeing Diablo III's version of the Monk and I'd be thrilled if they created a cloth wearing, staff wielding, spirit and intellect utilizing melee healer. I'm sad that they've ruled it out for any current classes (man, it would rock for paladins in my opinion and would single handedly make me like that class) but I'm very hopeful we'll be monking it up in an expansion or two.
SOE reveals EverQuest II forum treasure chest
Feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information available on the EverQuest II forums? It's easy to get lost amid the forest of posts, replies, and game guides collected on the official site since the title launched in late 2004. To alleviate the information overload, SOE has released the Treasure Chest, a compendium of worthwhile forum postings selected by community managers. "With so much information being posted in the EQII Official Forums at all times, it can be very easy to miss some real gems and opportunities to share. The Treasure Chest is here to highlight interesting, unusual, and humorous posts," proclaims the official news release. Head on over to the official news archive by hitting this link, and check out the best of EverQuest II's forum community.
Star Trek Online launches new forum section, hints at incoming respecs
Ever since the implementation of a hard skill cap in the game, Star Trek Online's lack of respecs has been keenly felt by players. With the highly skill-oriented progression arc through the game, it's all too easy to have a few missed points early on translate into big problems further on down the line. Cryptic has hardly been deaf to the player cries for respecs, and it seems that they've (quite wisely) moved them on the priority list ahead of issues such as the game's lack of a death penalty. The official forums for the game have just launched a new section, dubbed "Engineering Reports," summarizing the development team's focus areas. To no great surprise, the first such report features "respec options" right at the top of the list as a tested feature. According to the mission statement of the reports, features that high on the list are likely just a couple weeks from hitting the live servers... which means that Star Trek Online players likely won't have to wait much longer to fine-tune their character builds. It's a welcome piece of news for the game, and proof that the developers are working hard at shoring up their weaknesses.
Wasteland Diaries: The great respec debate
To respec or not to respec, that is the question. Having the ability to refund your Advancement Points (AP) to rebuild your character is something that's available in many MMOs, so most players have come to expect it. When that option is not available, it tends to become a focus on game design theory and certain levels of "hardcore". The truth is, the folks developing Fallen Earth have already decided what they're going to do about refunding AP, as they've always said the option would eventually become available. Right now, we're in a sit-and-wait period to see how well their implementation will be received by players and how it will balance with the current state of the game.
More tanking changes for warriors
After the changes to Devastate made in an attempt to 'buff warrior tank DPS' (I'm sure you all remember our coverage of said change) many warriors reported that one of the side effects of this change was to make Revenge, a long time warrior tanking ability, less than useful. With Devastate threat up (especially when glyphed) there's just less reason to use Revenge when it lights up. Now, Ghostcrawler interjects into a post that yes, Revenge will likely see some changes. This is interesting to me for two reasons. First, because it's a fairly rapid statement of intent compared to past issues, where months could pass before anyone would address an issue (Thunder Clap only hitting four targets, for example, which was a huge problem for warriors for most of BC) and secondly because it highlights the domino effect that changing class abilities can have and showcases just how difficult class balance really can be. They knew even when they were making the change to Devastate that this might be necessary, but they understandably wanted to roll out any changes in an incremental way. My expectation is either a threat buff for Revenge (which, frankly, isn't really all that interesting a change), a DPS increase (which isn't likely) or perhaps a small bit of AoE viability like a cleave effect. That last bit would be a good way of adding some AoE bite without replicating the paladin model which we've already been told is a touch over the top.
The Mog Log: A spotlight on our webwide community
We're generally a fairly verbose and chatty bunch on Final Fantasy XI, with a strong sense of community. Whether this has been helped or harmed by the difficulty of getting any official word from Square-Enix is a debate topic for another time -- what's indisputable is the sense that the game's players are one big family, if not always a happy one. (It's hard to be happy when cousin Ike has had a few Yagudo Drinks too many and starts talking about how much he hates Scholars.) On the other hand, Final Fantasy XIV isn't even yet in beta, but there's already a community forming around it, as is frequently the case for new games in the series. It's attracting several people who have either been burned by Final Fantasy XI or are still fans but look forward to some new gameplay, not to mention MMO gamers hoping for something new and exciting. So let's take a look at some of the more interesting, provocative, or just plain noteworthy community threads and discussions that have been happening recently.
Looking back at 40-player raids
Every so often someone looks back to 40-man raiding: this time it's Zarhym on the official forums, answering a question about raiding's future and their possible return. I have to say that every time someone decides that the 40-man raid game should come back, I cringe a little bit. So Zarhym's answer works for me. Right now our plan is to look back on 40-player raids fondly as a format by which we were able to evolve and customize what we feel to be the best raid formats for World of Warcraft. I don't believe our developers have ever stated that they'll absolutely never do a 40-player raid again, but we're really happy with the raid variety we have now with 10- and 25-player raids featuring normal and Heroic difficulties. I agree that there were some very epic moments in the old raid game: last night for instance I was looking at old screenshots of myself from those days and gabbing with the people who work here about our respective accomplishments and experiences in original WoW raiding. The great C'thun death beam chain ride, where we all mounted our bugs and rode in at once to see how high we could get it to go (I believe I took 6 million damage, with another 6 million resisted), the night I got my Sulfuras, the Onyxia attunement chain and what an incredible pain it was to wander around Desolace looking for Rexxar. I'm a veteran of the 40-man raid game from both the Horde and Alliance side, and I have to say, I really only miss the experiences through the patina of time buffing up all the glory moments like killing the bosses for the first time and letting you forget the pure hassle of getting 40 people together. The griping over having to break up into 15-man groups to go run UBRS and MC the mobs there for a fire resistance buff for Vaelastrasz is long since forgotten. I think in the end 40-man raiding was cool and fun and an artifact of the games that preceded WoW, and it belongs in its place of honor but definitely in the past.
Upon logging into World of Warcraft, I immediately...
Last week Eyonix started a poll on the forums asking players what they do directly after logging in (all of the options are listed in the picture above). For me, it's no contest -- before I do anything else, I always pop the friends list up to see who's around. The only time this doesn't happen is if I'm logging on in a rush for the night's raid, but I try to limit the number of times that occurs. Reading this poll has made me realize the extent to which I depend on my bank alt for mail and AH-related business; my main very rarely needs to check her mail. If you're interested in responding to the poll, it'll be running for another day or so, and you can find it here. Because it's on the official forums, you'll be prompted to log in to your forum account before replying.
Second Life official forums to be replaced Tuesday
Linden Lab is in the throes of closing the official Second Life forums and is creating alternative discussion spaces in its Clearspace blog/forum hybrid. According to previous figures from Linden Lab staff, fewer than 700 of 18.1 million registered Second Life accounts ever participated in the official forums provided by the Lab. The partial closure of many of the most heavily trafficked areas of those forums when Lab announcements were migrated back out to the blog in 2006 did little to boost participation in the official forums. The official vbulletin-based forums "did not scale" according to Linden Lab and were difficult to maintain, even for such modest usage levels as they experienced.
Anti-Aliased: A Cryptic opinion
So, wow, what a set the last week and a half has been. There seems to be a very strong theme going on in my inbox recently, and that's, without a doubt, Cryptic Studios. I've read unflattering comments about my integrity as a journalist, the usual statements of how this site is Cryptic's lapdog due to all of the Star Trek Online and Champions Online coverage, and, even more oddly, people want to know my opinion of Cryptic's recent actions -- specifically Star Trek Online and Vibora Bay. Well, I was never one to shirk from the truth. I've been wanting to give my personal opinion on these events since Vibora Bay hit, so I might as well dedicate this column to my evaluation of Cryptic Studios. But, before we get to Cryptic, I have a few ground rules that I want to go over with you guys. Some facts that I'd like to set straight for, oh, I dunno, the fifth time.
The return of 'Ask Cryptic' for Champions Online
Ask Cryptic is finally back for the Champions Online community. In the past. the feature regularly allowed a Q&A style of communication between curious or concerned players and the developers at Cryptic working on the game. Unfortunately, once Champions Online launched the feature fell by the wayside, at least until now. If you would like to submit some questions (be they about Vibora Bay or other topics) there's only two simple rules given by Cryptic: Any topic is fair game. Questions must be written in a respectful tone. Seems pretty reasonable, no? Head over to this thread on the official forums to post your questions -- just remember you'll need an official forum account to gain access. We look forward to seeing the results of your questions, which you can be sure to find right here on Massively.
Ghostcrawler on DKs: "It is a melee class"
No, it's not just a case of the obvious being stated. In a discussion of DK design in arenas, Dr. Street comments to clarify the intended role of death knights in arena and other factors. He also makes a good point about the forums in general that bears repeating for emphasis. "We don't intend for these forums to be the primary way the team communicates our vision for the game and upcoming changes to the community. You'll get a little of that on a few select subjects through the forums and sadly that's all you're ever going to get. It's not that we don't care. It's that forums are not a great medium for that kind of mass communication. I wish sometimes you guys could be satisfied with the fact that we used to not communicate at all and now are able to communicate a little." Moving on to the specific issue at hand in this thread, the discussion is the old shadow/frost spec that turned the death knight into a much more ranged caster, generating runic power quickly and then converting that runic power into Death Coils at range. It wasn't intended for the class. They have no problem with Death Coil itself being a popular attack, as long as the death knight has to put an effort into staying in melee with its attendant disadvantages to do so. "The DK that runs around and does nothing but Icy Touch or Howling Blast or Death Coil feels like a rogue who forgoes combo points and openers and everything just to spam Fan of Knives and nothing else." It's interesting to see players managing to find ways to bend the class out of the original design intent and how Blizzard responds to that: specs like shadow/frost or diseaseless blood DPS were adjusted quickly to put the class back to where Blizzard intended it.
